Oklahoma governor signs bill to make almost all abortions illegal

Oklahoma City — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, with exceptions only for abortions performed to save the life of the mother.

The bill, which takes effect 90 days after the state legislature adjourns next month, is part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights. Abortion rights advocates say the bill signed by the GOP governor is likely to face a legal challenge.

Its passage comes as the conservative U.S. Supreme Court considers ratcheting back abortion rights that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

Under the bill, anyone convicted of performing an abortion would face up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. It does not authorize criminal charges against a woman for receiving an abortion.

State Sen. Nathan Dahm, the Republican author of the bill who is now running for Congress, called it the "strongest pro-life legislation in the country right now, which effectively eliminates abortion in Oklahoma."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki denounced the law, calling it an "unconstitutional attack on women's rights" that "is just the latest and one of the most extreme state laws signed into law to date."

"Make no mistake: the actions today in Oklahoma are a part of disturbing national trend attacking women's rights and the Biden Administration will continue to stand with women in Oklahoma and across the country in the fight to defend their freedom to make their own choices about their futures," Psaki said in a statement.

Abortion rights advocates say the bill is clearly unconstitutional.

"It has never been more obvious that politicians are using tricks and games to pass these harmful laws," Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Texas and Oklahoma and a board member at Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement. "Oklahoma legislators are trying to ban abortion from all sides and merely seeing which of these dangerous, shameful bills they can get their governor to sign."

Similar anti-abortion rights bills approved by the Oklahoma Legislature and in other conservative states in recent years have been stopped by the courts as unconstitutional, but proponents have been buoyed by the Supreme Court's decision to allow new Texas abortion restrictions to remain in place.

The new Texas law, the most restrictive anti-abortion rights law in the U.S. in decades, leaves enforcement up to private citizens, who are entitled to collect what critics call a "bounty" of $10,000 if they bring a successful lawsuit against a provider or anyone who helps a patient obtain an abortion.

Several states, including Oklahoma, are pursuing similar legislation this year.